153 Comments

I love it! On TSN today GM’s are suggesting Jimmy Rutherford should get GM of the Year Award, for finding somebody stupid enough to actually take Kaberle and his contract! GM’s were quoted as saying it did not matter if they got nothing back for him, he was a genius to get rid of Kaberle. Laughs all round and once again PG looks like the idiot he is! God it gets sicker by the minute when our GM and our Coach are the laughing stock of the entire league!!! The phrase of the day, “it reeks of desperation!”

Its not a matter of how good or bad kaberle is, its a matter of cap management, taking in his salary it is going to hurt us this coming off season, how are we going to be able to retain our key players, price,subban,gorges,ak. Unless there is more moves coming to free up some cap space or in a perfect world, gomez will be in hamilton next season or before the end of this season. Finding it extremely hard to be positive about this trade.

Habsrule1, that’s a little bit of a snarky reply, but I guess we’re all on edge discussing this trade.

I agree that management has the best grasp of the salary cap implications of adding Mr. Kaberle to the roster. You’re right that they have a finger on the pulse and will have a plan to deal with the many contracts, but we’re on this site to discuss these matters and dispute whether these plans are realistic.

I can see how Tomas Kaberle could fit in well with the team and produce and help right the ship. I can also see how it may be a futile gesture that complicates our cap standing. I can see him cratering and being completely untradeable. I can see him keeping us in position to fight for the 8th spot and an early first-round exit, and a worse draft position. I can see him soaking up minutes, keeping them away from our young defencemen who we need to build around. I can see Mr. Kaberle making it necessary to trade away Yannick Weber, who can’t be sent down to Hamilton, and who could then turn into the powerplay sparkplug that we always envisioned.

All these points may seem evident, but we’re on here to discuss them and state a position and later crow “I told you so” or never bring up the matter again if we’re completely wrong on the issue.

Kaberle I want to see how he does today, I think he wont do as bad as some people think.
This is kinda like that Wiz deal last year, he mite not have the same impact, but he mite help.
My lines for today would be:
Plek, Camillarrie and Moen
DD, Pacioretty and Cole
Eller, Leblanc and Kastitsin
Nokelainen, Darche and Webber
(This lineup is based on if Gio’s not playing, I don’t think he is.)

Re: The Trade
First of all look at this for what it really is – a salary dump by Carolina as they can’t afford Kaberle’s contract. They are also tanking for the first overall draft pick.

Kaberle tied for 3rd in scoring among Defesemen in 2011 playoffs with Boston while averaging only 16 minutes a game.

Spacek had 0 points.

Advantage Kaberle

He finished 13th in scoring for D-Men in the regular season. Spacek was 115th.

Advantage Kaberle.

In the past 3 seasons Kaberle has 127 points while Spacek has 82 points.

Advantage Kaberle.

Next year Habs have only 3 defencemen signed. Kaberle, Markov and Weber. If Markov can’t play, Kaberle is the only vetern signed.

Montreal is unable to attract top players in free agency unless they are grossly overpaid (cammy @$6 mil, Gionta @5 mil, Spacek @3.8 mil, and Cole to a lesser degree). With all the yound D-Men we have, a vetern body at a reasonable cap hit will be required.

They will have the cap room going forward and its only 2 years after this – unlike Cammy and Gionta who had 5 year deals.

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“I went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out”

You’re restoring my faith in this silly site. Excellent points all. Critical thinking is so rare here. Like you, I’ve been watching since the 60’s. I know we’ll never have dynasties like the good ol days, but the children here are so entitled and idiotic that it’s spilling over onto professional journalists. They really need to start checking their ID at the door. 30 is the new 18. Watch everyone turn on a dime if he pops one, or assists on one, or even if he’s on the ice during a PP when we score… And really, all of this over losing Spacek? Please!

I almost cheered when I read your post SPATS. As a Habs fan since the 50’s (yes I know I’m old) I have cheered them on to Stanley Cup victories in every decade but recent ones. But to lsiten to the “can’t delay gratification I want it therefore I should have it and YOU should give it to me and isn’t it great being anonymous so I can say any stupid or degrading thing I want” crowd who usually post on this site, it is rare when an intelligent and measured response is posted here. I will look forward to more of same and will continue to smile ironically at the lost 20 somethings who wander our cities in search of electronic validation and media acceptance.

Pierre Lapuck, Nice to see there are other adults. Thank you for your kind words. We are witnessing 2 lost generations come under us due to narcissm brought on by facebook etc. I shudder as these dolts are old enough to vote if they bother to.

Spats in Victoria BC (where I have to roll out of bed early this am to set my PVR or miss the silly time tilt in Joizey)

Leaf fan alert! Leaf fan alert! Sound the air sirens! Go to full lockdown!..er, all security personnel report to..um.. oh I can’t do this as well as Bugs…

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“For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the Gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.” Exodus 12:12

I dont believe Carolina is tanking but I sincerely tell you that your reasoned and detailed pros and cons on the trade has CONVINCED me that it is not that bad a deal.

I especially like your point that next year, if the Canadiens dont do something stupid and retain Gill, Campoli, etc, they will have many options to sort of rebuild defensively. I am also leaning to accepting that MARKOV is gone for the year or even if he returns too risky a proposition, and that Kaberle will at least help provide some of what MARKOV was to bring.

Against this reasoned backdrop, I still AM DEPRESSED for I have no confidence in the coach to use ANY PLAYER properly or to motivate players like Kaberle.

But you have CONVINCED me! The deal isnt a bad one as long as we dont expect Kaberle to be the second coming of Doug Harvey or even Petr Svoboda.

I’d like to weight in on the Kaberle Spacek trade before the game this afternoon.
I like Spacek and whish him well. Just a couple of days ago My son and I were chastising Kaberle as we watched the flames beat the cannes. Having said all that I don’t think this is a bad deal for us. With Spacek being a ufa and our power play ranking or reeking in the high twenties it should not be a shock. I don’t believe Kaberle is as bad as he has been lately and I think the Habs could be the right team for him but I know I’ll be screaming at the Hitachi “Shoot the dam puck!!”
What is done is done but this has the potential to be as one previous post read “Gauthier’s Gomez”. Obviously we all want this to work out, and the organization can worry about the cap later.

Ok…..
Sometimes the media, including on this site, drive me crazy.
Kaberle got 47 points last year. He would have been tied for 2nd on the Habs with Cammalleri…and he’s a defenseman!
The contract part of it. I hear Marinaro all over the Habs management because of the contract and needing to sign PK, Gorges, and Price.
I guess he thinks PG, BG, and even Geoff Molson forgot about those guys becoming UFA’s?
Come on people. The Habs got the better player in the trade. He didn’t all of a sudden forget how to play hockey when he got to Boston.

Go Habs Go!!

“Fans are great, but the quickest way to start losing is to listen to them.” – Sam Pollock

It’s a fair point that they likely considered the UFAs, but what if they were first concerned with their own jobs. A little PP boost now can make the team better, but not good enough, and hte contract MAY handicap them come signing time.

Of course, I’m for the Kaberle trade (though not by much), but I felt like pointing out that PG/JM may be more worried about their own jobs than next summer right this moment.

Fair point, except Geoff Molson would have signed off on the trade, and I doubt he would have if he felt there was a risk to lose any of those players.
I’m not a capologist, but something tells me there is either another move coming or they have every intention of buying out Gomez’s contract.

Go Habs Go!!

“Fans are great, but the quickest way to start losing is to listen to them.” – Sam Pollock

That also makes me wonder how much attention Geoff pays when ‘signing off’. We’ve likely all worked for micro-managing bosses who basically make all decisions themselves, and the rubber-stamping boss, who perhaps over-trusts the people below him.

I’m just waiting for announcement of the Gomez for Malkin, Staal and Crosby trade. I’ve got it on good sources (the bottom of 3rd beer) that such a trade is imminent.

It might make you wonder, but why assume the worst? I think he knows for sure that 2 of his best players are up for free agency and he is watching that quite carefully, because they are a big part of the team going forward.

Go Habs Go!!

“Fans are great, but the quickest way to start losing is to listen to them.” – Sam Pollock

Marinaro is always crapping on the Habs nothing new.
If the Habs win he gives props to the players, if they lose he blames it on the coach and gm.
I know our coach is not the greatest, but if we had scored at least 1 goal on the pp on our cloce losses, we probably wouldn’t go to OT, we would win them in regulation.

Everyone seems to make a HUGE deal about Kabs’ +/-, but we have to consider NO ONE on the Caronlia team was a + until they picked up Spacho.. Give it time to pan out. Heck if we traded for Staal I bet his +/- wouldn’t come into consideration.
We were all calling for management to make a trade. Now that they do, it was the wrong one? Remember when we all said Cole wouldn’t work it Mtl? Seems to be working out just fine.
On the upside, Kaberle has played with a couple big market teams. Maybe that’s all he needs, I know I wouldn’t want to play in Carolina every other night.

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“For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the Gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.” Exodus 12:12

I don’t think position matters that much in what he was saying there. The ENTIRE team is at zero or worse. It’s not surprising that Kaberle wasn’t a shining bastion of +/- glory on a team where no one could get anything right.

While Karbele has been pretty brutal for better parts of the last season and a half, I still think he brings more to the table than Spacek was able to at this point in his carreer.

Kaberle will be able to control the point on the power play and if JM can convince him to shoot more, he may just find his mojo from a few seasons ago. Defensively, he can be a bit of a liability but no worse than Spacek was…

If the Habs buy out Gomez at the end of the season (or by some miracle we find some sucker GM to take him off out hands…) this is not a bad deal at all, long term.

Like everyone else on this site, I would have preferred to have heard that the Habs aquired Doughty, Yandle or Shea Weber for Gomez, but lets be realistic: Mike Milbury is no longer a GM in the NHL.

With no disrespect to Spacek, Gauthier addressed a glaring deficiency (lack of PP scoring) by aquiring a PP specialist and did not give up any significant assets in doing so.

What bugs me about the moaning over this trade is how quickly people have dismissed his entire career before going to Boston and Carolina. He played 10 years of good hockey in Toronto, and it’s not like was traded to Boston because Toronto thought he was terrible. He had 38 points in 58 games that year. That’s a pace better than virtually our entire team.

He went to Boston and didn’t really fit there – that’s a common problem with deadline-day rentals. He then went to Carolina, one of the worst teams in the league, and didn’t pile up the points – not really a surprise when that team couldn’t get anything going.

So, after 10 years of good play, people throw him under the bus for 4 months of bad play in Boston, and 2 more bad months in Carolina.

I think the biggest problem, is that this guy went from hated rival, to even more hated rival, and the abuse that followed, because most hockey fans have to bash other teams’ decent players, because it makes them feel better.

To be fair, it is pretty big news. It could be the death of being able to see hockey for free on CBC in this country. If Bell and Rogers want to market their own hockey (after CBCs deal expires after the 2013-14 season) it would be the end of Hockey Night in Canada. They might try a season of Leaf-less broadcasts, but it wouldn’t have anything like the pull it does now.

At first I was shocked when people (Leaf and Booin fans) were telling me how Kaberle is a Hab. My first initial thought was please for Gomez. Then I was thinking of God PG please no prospect or pick for him. They told me it was for Spatcho. As much as I thought he was a steady weak aging VET dman. He was somewhat serviceable and an UFA this year. TK though has 2 more years at yada yada a year to come. Sure its a panic move for PG. I hated TK in TO, and Boston. We all watch the game, and know he is making that pass.
Oh well as I shrug my shoulders and laugh as people are dissing my team for taking on this player and contract. I am hoping for a tank season to get rid of JM and PG. Not going to lie though, if TK somehow gets the PP going I’m all for it. Carolina last week offered a 2nd rd Pick and TK to CLB for D Brassard and Columbus said no thanks. Yet PG has been interested in TK for a month. They think he’s coming into his own. SMH. PG never traded for Gomer, but signing AM and now trading for TK is on him. When we lose AK or Gorges(should be captain) I’ll be furious, yet still will love the Habs.
Just bring in Sir Patrick already, and Jim Nill.

I wonder if Boone, Hickey or Stubbs have had a chance to interview Geoff Molson yet. Maybe that would be something, I would love to hear the thoughts going through his mind at the moment. If he is all happy and easy because financially the team is doing outstanding, or if he is as concerned as the rest of us and his forefathers were when the team only has 11 wins and here it is almost mid December. I want to know because, I had a recent thought. Ballard told his fans he did not care about them, because as long as the seats were filled he made money. That always sickened me that some owner could care less as long as his pockets were full. I wonder if Molson was to say he was pleased also with the team at the moment and did not interfere, that maybe the money for him, just like Ballard is all that really mattered. I really hope there is a way to see where his head is at, so that us fans can decide whether we support our owner or if in the end it’s just about money like Ballard. For all Gillette was or wasn’t, I always had the impression he cared about this franchise, studied the history of it and tried to do right by it. I can only hope Molson the new, feels the same as his forefathers did. They surely would not accept the present situation of this team. Money matters, it is a business after all, but passion for the team matters too. Does Geoff Molson have it? Is he a fan at heart, just like us? Find out for us Boone, Hickey or Stubbs, we all are dying to know.

They won’t ask the Big questions though! Like this club is not behind the iron curtain, so whats up with this very poor performance tonight, and don’t settle for these old lazy cliche. Call a spade a spade. On the other hand they give great credit when credit is due

Attn: Mr. Kaberle, welcome to HIO. Surprised your new teammates gave you this website address so quickly. I can’t remember the last time any of them visited.
Anyways, let me just tell you that whatever you’ve read about yourself on these pages was all said in good fun. Well, most of it … some of it.
What I can say is that the passion that comes through is very real. We take our team pretty seriously here. Play a good game and play it often and you’ll be glad to visit HIO. Make one stupid pass, or don’t cover a guy in front of the net, well, you might want to avoid the site for a few days.
Best of luck. Hodně štěstí

Been building it for weeks in anticipation of a trade involving anyone whose name rhymes with it. Also have a full list of names rhyming with suck, crap, idiot and a few others I am unable to type for fear of being modded to the great beyond.

he hasn’t stuck cause he brings more bad than good and I regret this trade. Sure he’ll bring us points and sure he might help the power play but he will also make bonehead plays, and wimpy plays. I do not think Kabs will have a significant positive impacts on our standings and we are stuck with him for three – ouch!

The down side has to be the contract in his back pocket. Management let the hammer go for financial reasons (a 2 year contract for him was too much) and then here we are today with Kaberle and his 3 year deal.
If he is to help the PP then it is fine and dandy however we still need a top faceoff centre. Half the PP is wasted retrieving the puck in our end.

5 games or so should tell us if this deal is going to give us a few points in the standings.

That’s my problem with this as much as the contract. We keep letting guys go for nothing that play well for us. Dominic Moore, Halpern, Metro and on and on. Only to have to replace them the next year. Wiz was too expensive and so was Hammer but now we have Kaberle. Doesn’t make much sense.

Also depends on what we actually need on the PP. PK can carry the puck in if he’s allowed to. Even Gomez can get it over the line. Not sure why we do the “chuck and chase” bit.

But our PP is missing a shot from the point just like it has every year for the past few years and our PP will suck just as it has every until we get that. Spacek has a decent shot. Does Kaberle? Don’t think so. Spacek got two points last night. Lets see what Kaberle does this afternoon.

the long term plan was MARKOV, the plan was that he gets healthy enough to play this year. HINDSIGHT is 20-20 -unfortunately Moslon did not want to splurge on a magic crystal ball and we could have avoided this and kept both wiz and hammer. I do beleive the mistake was letting wiz go – if he could have signed a short term 1-2yr with wiz for big money that would have been the right move and our pp would be working right now.

It was Elvis who set the bar pretty high in matters of this sort, with the release of his album, 50 Million Fans Can’t Be Wrong.
When the sports writers and broadcasters reach that degree of consensus, we can treat it as gospel. Until then, How Great They Artn’t.

The people who work at TSN are neither clairvoyant nor “experts” on hockey. The main qualification for being on TV is being telegenic. They are glorified armchair professors with deadlines and a propensity for conventional wisdom, easy soundbites, and hypocrisy.

Same people laughed at the Cole signing. But you’d never know it when they talk about him now. Whichever way the wind blows …

Also note that the guys on TSN never saw a Hab deal they liked or a Leaf deal they didn’t.

Spacek gets traded and the day he does he gets 2 points and is plus one. When was the last time he did that for the Habs?
You know why? Because he was asked only to be annoyingly defensive.
Yes, they lost but the Canes don’t have 5 potential 25 goal scorers like WE ARE SUPPOSED TO.

Sorry, Mr. Hickey, but winning is what this team needs. Not another jokster in the locker room…Spacek may have been a “good guy”, but we have a limping PP that needed a spark..He was gone at the end of the year, anyway, and when you can add a 40-50 point PP QB for a 38 year old UFA, you do it…

Like I have said, I am the team’s biggest critic, but this time PG got it right..We gave up nothing but 500k in cap room…No picks and no prospects…

Re-post Re: Kaberle
A lot of people are upset about this. Me? Not so much. I think Kaberle will help the team, even if I am a little concerned that taking on a defenceman like him with a 3 year term means that Markov is done.

Look at it this way – we know Kaberle didn’t produce with the Bruins, but consider that Kaberle is a finesse player, which doesn’t really fit in on a goon team like the bruins, who are much more likely to score goals from crashing the crease than a nice 3 way passing play. And no one produced on the Hurricanes this season – that’s just a bad team. Staal was at -17 a few weeks ago (is he worse now?), and we would all take him on the team in a minute, no?

Lots of people thought Cole was washed up after his disastrous stint in Edmonton as well, and here he is as one of our very best players.

So let’s just give Kaberle a chance, shall we? He is now a Montreal Canadien, and deserves our respect and a fair shake.

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“Talent is a gift from God, but you only succeed with hard work. Yvan was proof of that.” – Jean Beliveau.

Clay – Kaberle was traded to Boston and signed by Carolina for the sole purpose of enhancing the PP. Hid failure to do so has to be an area of concern.

Some HI/O posters (not you) just love to brush off the importance of contracts and cap hits. At the head of the list is Mr. Gauthier. His comments in today’s articles (posted here) are idiotic. Kaberle can get six points this afternoon but that still won’t change the long term implications of his arrival.

As for your last sentence, I reluctantly agree. I mean what else can a Hab fan do?

I used to watch Hab games with a sense of pride and honour. I now view them with nervous trepidation. A four pointer against a broken New Jersey team so we can keep alive our hopes of beating out Toronto, Oyyawa and Winnipeg for 8th place.

Cap space is of course the big concern. The trade also tells me (1) we will keep Gomez this year because Nokelainen is inadequate even for a 4th line centre, (2) we will bury Gomez in the AHL next year to free the cap space.

If this isn’t it, then I’m drinking this season away, and possibly next.

Cheer up Steve. I understand your cap concerns but really the cap has nothing to do with how the team may or may not perform today, or for the rest of the season for that matter. If PG wants/needs to shed cap at any time to make improvements he simply can.

I know this next comment will bring either rolled eyes or a lecture on cap from some corners but…really, the hand wringing by fans and the media over cap issues is just unwarranted and so pointless. The league has set the boundaries for the benefit of the business, not the fans, and most teams are quite well equipped to handle their own business. Not all, of course, but a franchise that perennially stands at the top of league revenues and profits isn’t about to collapse over cap issues.

Personally I find we fans spend far too much time focusing on cap, contracts, salaries and like and miss the essence of the whole thing. For the league it’s a business, for fans it’s a game.

Well said, punkster. I can’t think of one example (doesn’t mean there isn’t one, but there definitely aren’t many) of a team being absolutely handcuffed by the cap. Teams have been up against it but have always found a way out.

24C, this isn’t a shot at you personally but just because you or I don’t see how PG can possibly manoeuvre these contracts around the cap doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. It might be an indication that he has confidence in his abilities, which we don’t give him enough credit for. For all we know he is 100% prepared to send Gomez to Hamilton should the situation arise in which he needs that cap space. He has already shown a willingness to make similar tough decisions (e.g., firing the coach’s close friend, trading a respected locker-room guy, spending to the limit) in an attempt to improve this club.

The long-term implications are being somewhat overblown in this case. The contract is neither outrageous nor unmoveable. The cash and term are both reasonable given his age and abilities.

Also, if he can put up 40-50 points and help the powerplay, why not just keep him at that price? That’s what a PP QB costs, at the minimum, and every team needs one. Need money to resign Price and Subban? Looking at the the cap situation next year and the year after it looks pretty easy to do. And if they really need room, there’s always the Gomez termination to look forward to.

Bill – That’s my concern. There has been little evidence that Kaberle CAN post 50 points and lead the PP. That’s why his last two teams dumped him. I’m hoping for a resurgence just like everyone else but….

I’m not even going to bother addressing the issues of long term salary and cap space. I love how people just state that we can dump these contracts further down the road. After all, isn’t that exactly what happened to us when we got saddled with Gomez and Kaberle?

I hear you loud and clear on the cap hit Steve. This is exactly why I think Markov is done. I’m sure if it was just this season the Goat could have found a short term fix with an impending UFA to trade for, instead of a player with a 3 year cap hit. I do, however, agree with Bill that his contract is moveable if need be.

As for your last paragraph…yeah, I feel that pain too. It’s tough to watch this incarnation of the team when you can so easily remember the past glory days. This perennial battling for 8th place is really taking its toll on my psyche. But we are Habs fans, and we must endure – there is no other team. It’s in our blood…

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“Talent is a gift from God, but you only succeed with hard work. Yvan was proof of that.” – Jean Beliveau.

I hope with all my heart that we are all proven wrong and Kaberle becomes a valuable member of this team!!!
He by the way is said to be very good friens with Plecs…so if anything else maybe he motivates Plecs to get his game up to the levell it should be!!!
You know that “hope does float”

only good thing about trade is that it means Gomez will be gone by next season. they cannot keep both contracts. i imagine Weber will be moved soon. maybe Edmonton or New Jersey? Ryan Jones or David Clarkson would be nice.

OK, I agree Spacek is a “good guy” and so are Camm, Gionta and Gomez. On the other hand Lucic is a “bad guy” and for the record I would trade my remaining 3 “good guys” for that one “bad guy” in a heartbeat. Yes, too many good old boys on our team, their settled, their comfortable and their golf memberships are paid in full and will be activated in April’12. PG should be removed as GM and Jm as coach.

I see your frustration but you cannot trade a player when he is still injured. They had to wait until he was able to play in order to complete the trade. Makes me think this trade had been in place for awhile and the Habs were waiting for Spacek to be fully healthy before completing. He probably could have played for us a bit sooner but it would have put the trade in Jeopardy.

In watching Mr. Gauthier discuss the trade of Mr. Kaberle and the potential return of Mr. Markov it occurred to me that if Mr. Gauthier had his way we could be listening to his favourite band for our next goal song…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNKbHJ3PTu4

… the thing that really galls me about this trade is that now I have to wander into my old timers dressing room, filled with a veritable plethora of Laffs’ and Broons’ fans, and suffer their ceaseless guff and guffaws about how much of an idiot “my” GM is.

“Whenever you have the puck, and don’t know what to do with it, put it in the net.” – Toe Blake

This team is a very poor passing team hands down. They don’t block pucks well on the boards in the offensive zone.These are thing that can be work on in practise but its goes on and on and on. How many times do we a 8 or 12 foot pass with no one bothering the passer and it to far ahead or in the skates .Its frustrating and if JM would make it the issue and make them pass till they throw up in practise this team would turn around

good point you look at the things that matter! they are a poor passing team this year, very poor. its in the system they scared to lose rather than go out and get the win. those styles of play will indicate how well you pass the puck

Agreed. Too many passes to players standing along the boards with a defender pinching in. Too many passes to players in their feet, just behind them or just ahead of them Too many passes to players who already have a defender on them. And too often passes on the mark are mishandled. Not saying these combined happen the majority of times but often enough to make you shake your head. And fist, if I were a demonstrative kind of guy. More of a tisk, tisk Land O’Goshen person.

I want to make a very clear ponit Wiz is no Markov he’s not even close. Markov when healthy is one of the top D-men in this league and on many nights the best. As far as the trade time will tell but one can understand a move to try and help a 11% PP. The good news is the Habs ar still in it and 88 or 89 points may get you in the payoff this year. The Sabres , the Caps , the Leafs are turning into the team they realy are bad. There is still time to turn this around now let see what happens today.

Its got nothing to do with the trade! It has to do with what we traded for! He’s a broken player like Gomez. Maybe he’ll have a revelation coming to the Habs BUT under Martins system somehow I don’t think so.

… so Kaberle is going to turn this limp PP around. Let’s see how that’s going to go. I can imagine it now, at practice.

“Okay guys, let’s run through the PP lineups again. First group, get started. Tomas K, you get back on the point and do your thing. No, no, Tomas, not that way. Here, let me show you. This is how we do it here. Yeah, that’s better. Do it our way from now on.”

… yep, Tomas K. is going to bring on an improved PP.

“Whenever you have the puck, and don’t know what to do with it, put it in the net.” – Toe Blake

– Are the media laments for the trade because of Spatch’s skill or because he is a “good guy”. He has played better this year but we can all remember multitudes of giveaways and bad passes over the past 2 years that drove us all to distraction.

– Something had to be done on the power play.

– If we had re-signed Wiz and let Markov walk we wouldn’t be discussing this trade.

– If Kaberle comes in and puts up 35 points and revives the pp, then the trade is ok for this year. A big bonus would be if Markov somehow comes back which would give us 2 defence pairings for the pp.

– If Kaberle is a bust then management will have to bite the bullet in the offseason and eat salary. Kaberle will either have to be given away in trade, sent to the minors, or loaned to a European team. Under no circumstances should this trade mean that Gorges is not with us next year.

– This sends a message to the remainder of the class of 09 (Gomez/Gio/Gill/Cammi/Moen) that no one is untouchable. Maybe they could benefit from a bit of a kick in the pants right now.

– Let’s not hold too much against Kaberle over his performance for the first 20 games this year. That whole team was a mess and if Rutherford was the gm in Montreal he would have been fired in the offseason.

I understand the argument that Kaberle could be immediate PP help, but at the end of the day, in my eyes, this is just another lateral move that will keep the Canadiens in the middle. I think the group we had on the ice has just as much chance of making a playoff push as the team we will ice from 10 December onward

The most interesting advancement I’ve made as a Canadiens fan in my 33 years is that I no longer want a trade just for the sake of a trade. I want a trade that means something, and if one isn’t available, why make one?

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They lost me 2 quarts of rum, better make it up next year with a cup!

Hello, Hab fans, I’m Bernie “Boom Boom” Riboff, and I feel your pain. You invest all your psychic energy into one franchise and what has it got you the last 18 years? Zilch. Rien.
Worse, the team you hate most is the reigning champion.
I can put an end to your angst. Let me handle your emotional investments and I guarantee your portfolio of dreams will realize its full potential – a Stanley Cup victory.
How, you ask? Simple. The bandwagon you’ve been riding needs an upgrade and that requires capital. The tires are soft, the engine is aging, the new parts haven’t quite meshed. This is a vehicle that has serious power issues. Its energy is lagging. A massive injection of funds is needed to get the fanmobile back into shape.
With my help – and a small investment of $1,000 on your part – I can get the bandwagon running as good as new again. With plenty of seating and ease of access. Egress, however, carries a penalty. Jump the wagon and you forfeit your investment.
That’s the key, friends. Once you put money into the project, you have to remain positive, otherwise it’s money you flushed down the drain. No one’s that stupid.
And with that kind of backing your Montreal Canadiens will do their utmost to repay your allegiance by you know how – the best kind of return!
Once you’ve made the commitment – a small investment of $1,000 on your part, more if you’re a TRUE Habs fan – we can begin work on rebuilding the bandwagon. With enough support, we can turn it into something much bigger, the bandtrain. Car after car carrying avid Canadien fans riding in luxury, headed to the promised land. Estimated time of arrival: soon. It all depends on you.
Make no mistake, friends, investing your attachment to a team and divesting yourselves of some under-utilized capital to help the Montreal Canadiens regain their former glory will help usher in a time of economic and emotional prosperity – for businesses that depend on the team for survival, and for fans who depend on its success to stay buoyant.
Not a boo-boo, and more than a boom – a BOOM! BOOM!
To invest in the Montreal Fans Riboff Fund, visit http://www.butnerinstitution/ponzischeme/cell1284

Would love to contribute but with Christmas shopping to be done and all, I just can’t afford it. I do have a neighbour with an old Leaf Bandwagon we could refurbish for less. It resembles a rickshaw but has been working for them since 67.